Disappointed Stars accept union's stance on realignment

Stars players were in favor of the NHL’s proposed realignment plan but understand why their union has refused to approve it, forward Adam Burish said Saturday.

“For the Stars, it would have been great,” said Burish, who represents the Stars on the NHL Players’ Association executive board. “Would it have been as good for Philadelphia or St. Louis? Probably not as much as us.”

Burish said the biggest concern voiced during a Jan. 1 conference call of the executive board is that clubs in the two proposed seven-team conferences would have an easier time making the playoffs than clubs in the two eight-team conferences. The Stars would be in an eight-team conference.

Don Fehr, the union’s executive director, said in a prepared statement that there were also reservations about travel and U.S.-Canada border crossings.

Burish acknowledged some Stars were upset that the plan will not be enacted for next season as planned. As the only team that does not play in the same time zone with the majority of its division foes, the Stars have grueling travel under the current format.

“It would have been easier for us,” Burish said. “But the board had to look at it as a whole.”

The league and the union must negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement by next season. The current one, which expires Sept. 15, was forged after a bitter labor fight that included the cancellation of the 2004-05 season.

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